The Buffalo Creek Litigants

Author(s):  
GOLDINE C. GLESER ◽  
BONNIE L. GREEN ◽  
CAROLYN WINGET
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Kai Erikson

This chapter focuses on the Buffalo Creek flood in West Virginia that occurred on February 26, 1972. Almost everyone along Buffalo Creek depended on coal mining for a living. The creek is formed by three narrow forks meeting at the top of the hollow. The middle of these forks, known as Middle Fork, had been for many years the site of an enormous bank of mine waste. The waste was there because it solved two important disposal problems for the Buffalo Mining Company. This chapter describes the events that led to the Buffalo Creek disaster and its aftermath. It also considers the individual and collective trauma caused by the flood. Finally, it presents the story of a survivor named “Wilbur.”


1971 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 211
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Abler
Keyword(s):  

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